Scarlett Letter
by LetMeWalkTheEarthWithYou
Summary: Spoiler Season 3/ They're gone long before the morning comes, leaving their scarlet letter in the crackling fire behind./ Warning: Dark!


**Disclamer: I own nothing, everything belongs to their rightfull owners.**

* * *

**Scarlet Letter**

**.**

**.**

There he is-

Damon Salvatore-

trapped in Mystic Falls.

_(Again I might add.)_

Trapped in this town he hates so much,

_trapped right here-_

-with his brother´s girlfriend.

(The girl he loves.)

_The girl he´ll never have._

At least not in her lifetime.

(Not even in his)

_Whatever that means._

.

Stefan´s not coming back,

_-Damon knows-_

knows for sure even if he doesn´t want to.

And he knows he should turn her-

_of course she would stake him for that-_

but at least she could take care of herself.

_(And he could leave.)_

But he can´t turn her,

- she doesn´t want him to-

(she doesn´t want him to leave either).

_(And he´s like a damn puppy now.)_

Well at least he tries.

(Fuck, t_hey should ´ve let him die.)_

.

It´s a bloody mess Stefan´s leaving behind and Damon knows he has to do something.

(To save his damn brother)

_(And the world.)_

(- maybe- )

But he´s not a hero. He really isn´t.

(And he doesn´t want to be one.)

He´s the bad brother

_( – that´s the unwritten rule in their history – )_

and it has to stay that way.

(Their world has changed enough)

He takes Elena with him, because she asks him to.

_(- and he can´t leave her alone in Mystic Falls anyway.)_

That´s what he tells himself every night.

.

It happens when they arrive in Chicago.

He wants her to stay in the car-

_- but like the stubborn girl she is-_

she doesn´t listen.

And he´s to tired to fight.

She doesn´t scream, she doesn´t cry and she doesn´t even start to vomit-

_(like he wants to)_

- she´s just standing in the doorway-

and he knows she won´t be the same girl ever again.

(He wishes she´d just stayed in the damn car.)

.

New York, three weeks later-

(It´s the worst Damon´s ever seen in his entire (undead) life)

there´s so much blood-

_it´s unbearable to breathe-_

(even for him)_(- and he´s already dead)._

Stefan has ripped a family-

a _whole_ family-

(into pieces)

- and Damon has to fight back his emotions.

_It´s horrific._

He´d never seen anything like this.

(And he doesn´t want to ever again).

He´s not sure how long she´d been standing behind him, before he realizes she´s there.

She´s pale and stares at the horrible sight in front of her-

and he knows that´s it.

They´re going home.

(Stefan´s not Stefan anymore.)

She starts to vomit all over the bloody wooden floor-

and for the first time in 149 years he does the same.

(It doesn´t help through.)

.

He sets the house on fire an hour later,

and they´re watching until there´s nothing left.

_Ashes to Ashes._

_Dust to Dust._

(He wants to burn himself)

But there´s already nothing left.

.

She doesn´t speak after that.

Not a single word.

Damon takes her home-

(because that´s all he can do)

and let Bonnie cast a spell-

_(- yeah, they did that before – )._

He asks Katherine to look after Elena-

(he knows she´ll do it no matter what she says)-

and he´s out of town before the sun can rise again.

(He can´t be with her anymore).

He isn´t a hero.

He can´t save her.

(At least that´s what he needs to believe).

.

He finds Stefan in Italy a few months later-

and it´s nothing like Damon ever expected to find.

Klaus ist dead,

(-Stefan killed him-)

_and Stefan is no longer the brother Damon used to know._

He´s not just a ripper,

(and that would be bad enough)

he´s more cruel than that-

and Damon knows he has to kill him.

(- But he can´t -)

_He´s his brother after all._

(He still loves him).

.

It´s Caroline who calls him and begs him to come home.

He says no.

(No he can´t. )

She says "It´s Elena."

And he takes the next flight _home_.

_(I´d always come for you)_

.

It´s Katherine he sees first-

_- and it takes him more than 30 seconds-_

to realize it´s Elena.

(Of course the damn witch couldn´t even cast a spell)

She smiles-

_-that smile he missed so much- _

and looks more beautiful than ever.

"I´m sorry"-

is all she says-

and he wants to kiss her so badly.

.

He doesn´t ask what happend and she doesn´t tell him.

It´s not like it would matter anyway.

_"It would have been you,_" she says.

_"If I ´d met you first, it would have been you from the beginning. "_

He knows.

(And maybe he always had.)

He takes her then and there-

_(on the stairs to her bedroom)_

- and tells her how much he loves her.

_She´s his now._

(No matter what).

.

It´s Katherine who warns them.

_That Stefan´s coming for revenge one day._

And it´s like the whole Klaus incident all over again-

_(but Elena stays calm)_

like she did the first time.

(And it´s not like Stefan could_ kill_ her _again_)

They ask Bonnie and Jeremy to leave town, as well as Matt, Caroline and Tyler.

(It´s not their war to fight.)

It´s Katherine who takes care of Alaric-

_( it´s creepy)_

and it scares the crap out of Damon, but Elena just laughs.

(And Damon´s glad she´s laughing again.)

.

When Stefan comes _home_-

- he starts a blood bath -

_(like Katherine told them he would)._

It´s Elena who fools him and gets him to the boarding house one night-

_(they just have to kill him)_

even if they dont´want to.

_(But there´s nothing left of the man they once knew)_

There´s a sad smile on her face,

_- when she bends over Stefan,_

and tells him goodbye.

"I´m sorry," she whispers-

(and Damon knows she truly is)

_- they both are._

She kills Stefan in one quick move-

_- it happens fast-_

too fast.

_(Even for Damon.)_

And then-

_after all these years-_

it´s over.

.

They set the house on fire-

_- there´s nothing to come back for-_

watching the flames from the woods.

It´s Elena who takes his hand first-

_"Let´s go,"_ she says-

and he just nods.

They´re gone long before the morning comes-

_- leaving their scarlet letter in the crackling fire behind._

**_._**

**_._**

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******Disclamer: I own nothing, Everything belongs to their rightfull owners.**


End file.
